Upgrades to the Japanese Garden at the Four Rivers Cultural Center began this month, with the most exciting part of the work accomplished by Ogata Kai volunteers from Japan.
Japanese Garden volunteer curator Mike Miller submitted a design proposal to the Ogata Kai group, who pick a project in the United States each year and travel at their own expense to work on it. Funding for the project needs to be provided by the applicant.
Led by Takao Donuma, the former curator of the Japanese Garden in Portland, the group worked on the Ontario project for a week. Also joining in the work was Bill Proppe of Portland, a former student of Miller’s learning proper pruning, who has been interested in Japanese gardens for over 50 years.
Proppe said Ogata Kai, whose mission is to spread knowledge and peace through gardens, is a renowned group from Japan. They built the tea garden around the Japanese embassy in Washington, D.C. and worked on the Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, California.
He called it a “real plum” for them to be in Ontario working on the 1.3 Hikaru Mizu garden at the cultural center.
The name of the garden, the second largest Japanese garden in Oregon, translates to “shining waters” in English.
On April 14, the Owyhee/ANK Garden Club provided lunch to the workers and Four Rivers staff.
Club members focused their luncheon dishes on local foods including Tater Tot casserole, beans and chorizo casserole, apple/cabbage salad, onion casserole and several fruit pies.
Club members had an opportunity to view the work in progress and visit with the workers. The club also made a donation to Four Rivers Cultural Center to be used in the garden. The garden is now in bloom and open to the public 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
